By Ayodele Oni
Stringent tax law of the German authority may have aborted the dream of the Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) to sign on another foreign Coach for the national team, the Super Eagles.
The Nigerian football governing body had earlier announced that Coach Bruno Labbadia has been hired and was expected to lead the national team against Benin Republic in the scheduled
upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches in Uyo, 7th September and Rwanda, Kigali, 10th September.
As a result of the botched agreement, Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles.
A statement on Friday evening by the President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, confirmed that the deal with the German Coach would have to wait.
The statement reads “Stringent regulations of German tax authorities have conspired to abort the agreement between the Nigeria Football Federation and Coach Bruno Labbadia for the latter to mount the saddle as Head Coach of Nigeria’s Senior Men Team, Super Eagles.
“We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities.
“It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.
“The NFF and Mr. Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
“The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up.
“We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that.
“In the event, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, 7th September) and Rwanda (Kigali, 10th September).”
It will be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions, after earlier experience in 2005-2007, 2010 and 2022.
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